Blue Jays' Hyun Jin Ryu still aiming for mid-July return

Left-hander Hyun Jin Ryu, now nine months out from last summer’s Tommy John surgery, is throwing from 90 to 120 feet and still aiming for a mid-July return to the Blue Jays pitching staff, writes Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. 

He’s throwing off flat ground for now but could progress to mound work by mid-April. The timeline aligns with the goal that Ryu stated back in December, but it’s a positive development that he’s progressed through his spring throwing program without setbacks and hasn’t had to push that goal further down the road.

Ryu, who’ll turn 36 later this week, is entering the final season of a four-year, $80M contract signed prior to the 2020 season. He finished third in AL Cy Young voting during the shortened 2020 campaign and gave the Jays 31 roughly average starts in 2021 before an elbow injury limited him to 27 innings and resulted in surgery last June. If he’s indeed able to return at any point in midsummer, he could be a boon to a rotation that currently is hoping for rebounds from fourth and fifth starters Jose Berrios and Yusei Kikuchi. 

Each of Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman and offseason signee Chris Bassitt delivered strong results in 2022, and top prospect Ricky Tiedemann is looming as an option at some point in 2023 as well.